1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a picture processing apparatus capable of processing and editing quantized pictures which are obtained by scanning original pictures with a scanner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When information slips or the like containing original pictures (i.e., images, data, etc.) are subjected to automatic reading and the quantized pictures obtained by that reading are edited or processed, it is obviously important that the original picture to be read be accurately detected and reproduced without distortion. So long as the slips are inserted with the normal posture (i.e., without skew) into an automatic reading apparatus, and assuming all else functions as intended, the picture can be reproduced without distortion. However, when the slips are inserted with skew into the automatic reading apparatus, it is inevitable that the reproduced picture will be distorted.
Conventionally, in order to provide a solution to this problem, there has been proposed a picture processing apparatus capable of detecting the skew of slips, if any, by detecting the orientation of the original picture, correcting the quantized picture in accordance with the detected skew, and reproducing the images. In the case of this conventional picture processing apparatus, however, there are circumstances under which skewing of a slip can be erroneously determined, for instance, due to the presence of some dark or smeared portions in the slip, and "correction" of the quantized picture of the slip in accordance with the erroneously detected skew itself results in reproduction of a distorted picture. When this takes place, it is no longer possible to correct the distorted picture to an undistorted picture.
Furthermore, conventionally there has been proposed a picture processing apparatus capable of correcting quantized pictures by detecting the orientation of a frame in which each picture appears. However, in the case of this conventional picture processing apparatus, it is extremely difficult to detect skewing, and to reproduce a picture with the skew corrected, when the frame is formed by broken lines, chain lines, or hand-written, not-perfectly-straight lines.